Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.

If you have not yet gone to getsecnetwork.com, please do so today. It is important that all SEC fans make their desire to watch the upcoming channel known to their cable providers. Getting cable companies to add a new station is not an automatic. Click on the "Demand the SEC Network Now" icon in the upper right corner and then follow the simple requests. The SEC Network starts August 1 and our football game with Temple will be the second live game shown on the network later that month.

Is there a team anywhere that has more fascinating personal stories than our baseball team?

The great athletes make it look easy but here's a staggering statistic from the Olympics that puts perfection into perspective: Gold Medal skaters Meryl Davis and Charlie White practiced together for 29,000 hours over 17 years! Think about that. Author Malcolm Gladwell says it requires 10,000 hours of practice to achieve true expertise in anything so our Olympians nearly tripled that standard. As we watch SEC student-athletes, we should remember that while they have natural talent, they have also honed those gifts for years.

It is sad but amazing how many of life's problems are self-inflicted.

Our congratulations to former All-American bowler Brittni Hamilton, who recently won the 2014 United States Bowling Congress Team USA Trials, earning another spot on Team USA.